Slow buffering

[Hitch]

I think i have the right term, if im on Youtube or similar and try watching a video, it plays it faster than it seems to download/buffer it. Lots of second stops, watch 3 seconds, stop for a second...

I have just done a BB speed check, says my actual speed is 5.86mbps. Not fast, but i ought to be able to easily watch a low quality video, right?
Not been a problem untill recently anyway.

Seems to be the same if i use IE, or Chrome.

Anything on the computer to check?
Im on XP, using ie8

 

[Paul.]

Its exactly the same for me too, stopping to buffer every few seconds, very annoying, just lately I've been using realplayer to download the vids then watch them off the pc rather than the net

 

[Wozzaaah]

I'm on 20 meg and I still get that once in a while though it is pretty rare. Not sure what causes it either. Do you get it on every video or just some?
Sometimes it could be just the sheer number of people on there at the time but you certainly shouldn't get it all the time.
5.86 Mb/s is plenty fast enough, it should buffer up ok at that.

 

[malcolm]

Try it on less than 1Mb/sec.

Not all traffic has the same priority with ISPs so it may be you are getting less speed than you think you are getting.

Also servers have their own connection limitations. We can only have a certain amount of traffic on this site before things slow down. For youtube (way more servers than we have over here but way more traffic as well) the servers might hold things up at busy times of the day.

Tricky to trace which is causing the issue.

 

[CTB]

i'm only at 2.13mbps but have the same problem.

Up to a couple months ago I had no real problems with u-tube but now it seems that most video's hang, then go for a few seconds, then hang again etc.

Damn annoying when I'm trying to watch Top Gear!

 

[Debs.]

Some ISP`s impose "traffic shaping" (throttling) on specific/popular video streaming sites at busy times, "to keep a good network user experience for most".....effectively making YouTube unuseable at certain times.

Line-speeds 'up' and 'down' would still show as normal (if tested) for your line; rather the website would 'appear' slow or the stream will fragment or not begin at all.

B.T are one of the notable 'throttlers'

 

[Wozzaaah]

Virgin do it as well Debs but only if you're in the top 5% of their downloaders.
I regularly hit the limit.
I don't think that's Hitch's problem though, it seems like a common one and one which has no real solution unfortunately.

 

[rtbcomp]

Get "Youtube Downloader" or just press "pause" as soon as the vid. starts to play, let it buffer completely and press "start"

 

[tigler]

Thats true. Line speed varies throughout the day and time of year. During the Xmas break it was rubbish , so many people on line simultaneously.
I'm with Orange and they throttle like mad. I was actually getting disconnections at certain times of the day like clockwork. When I complained they tried to blame my equipment , BT , anyone but themselves , but I knew what was going on ! I had to threaten to find another ISP before they sorted it.
Also , the further you are form the exchange the slower your line speed and the more susceptible it will be to speed variation.

 

[SC_BK]

Everyone is bored sat at home these last few weeks that's why it's been slow